For the love of beer

Monday, March 19, 2018

Posted by: LocAle Brewing Company

We met in college and had similar interests, but at first didn’t realize that opening a business would be one of them.

In 2012, while sitting at our favorite local brewery in Pullman, Washington, home of our graduate school alma mater Washington State University (Go Cougs!), we decided that after graduating when we moved back to the Midwest we’d open a business together.

At that point, the craft brewery scene in Minnesota was just beginning to build and a small brewery seemed like a promising business idea. Besides, the Pacific Northwest had a thriving craft beer scene for many years so we were excited to see a similar trend starting in Minnesota. But for the past several years opening a brewery was a less a reality and more of a dream for us.

So after graduating, we both loaded up our cars and journeyed across mountains and the Great Plains back to the Midwest. After a few other stops along the way, lots of beers brewed (including all of the beer for our wedding) and many pints later, we moved to Mankato to be closer to family and to make our dream a reality.

Mankato has a rich history of breweries that dates back to the mid-1800’s. In fact, at one point before Prohibition there were at least three breweries in Mankato near Downtown or Old Town, including one that rivaled the production and physical size of the August Schell Brewing Company!

With LocAle Brewing Company, we want to bring beer brewing back to Downtown Mankato and we can’t wait to share our taproom and locally produced small-batch craft beer with you.